Obama To Pressure Nigeria On Anti-Gay Law During Buhari's White House Visit

U.S. President Barack Obama (left) stands with

Nigerian President Muhamamdu Buhari (second

right) along with other G7 summit participants

and outreach delegates at a family picture event

at the G7 summit at the Elmau castle in Kruen

near Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, on June

8, 2015. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

While Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari
plans to discuss Boko Haram and Nigeria’s
economy during his upcoming visit to the White
House, U.S. President Barack Obama might push
another agenda.

 Washington has pledged to
pressure the West African country to reverse its
anti-gay law and end its persecution of
homosexual people.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African
Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said this week
the Obama administration had adopted
protection of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender community as part of its foreign
policy agenda. “As a government, it is one of the
highest priorities and strongest values that
discrimination against anyone based on their
sexual orientation and gender identity is wrong.
We believe human rights should be available to
everybody,” Thomas-Greenfield said during a live
web chat with journalists in Washington, D.C.,
according to Gay Star News. “As a policy, we
will continue to press the government of Nigeria
as well as other government who have provided
legislation against the LGBT community.”
Following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last
month that legalized same-sex marriage
nationwide, Obama has received mounting
criticism in African nations for his support of the
LGBT community. Kenyan leaders have warned
the U.S. president not to bring his “gay agenda”
with him during his visit to Kenya later this
month.
Buhari, however, has so far kept quiet about his
stance on same-sex marriage as Nigeria
struggles with tumbling oil prices and Boko
Haram violence. The Nigerian leader is expected
to request U.S. military assistance to fight the
Islamist militant group, and Obama might ask for
something in return when the two meet in the
Oval Office next week. The U.S. president could
demand that Buhari relax Nigeria’s anti-gay
legislation in exchange for U.S. funding.
Obama had threatened to sever foreign aid to
Nigeria when then-president Goodluck Jonathan
signed a law barring same-sex marriage in the
African country in January 2014. Ahead of
Nigeria’s presidential election in March,
Jonathan’s campaign organizer Femi Fani-
Kayode claimed the United States supported
Buhari because the opposition candidate had
vowed to legalize same-sex marriage, according
to a Nigerian news site.
“The proposition and offer was that if he was
prepared to support a legislation in Nigeria to
allow same sex marriage and if he was prepared
to repeal the anti-gay laws in Nigeria, they (US)
will, in return, endorse, support and fund him,
initially covertly and eventually publicly, at the
right time,” Fani-Kayode said at the time,
according to Naij.com. “Instead of rejecting
these offers and spurning this proposition, to our
utter shock, Buhari apparently refused to rule it
out and has put the matter under consideration.
Instead of him to say no, he assured them that
he would consider these two things.”